


Scott is Always Right

by keelyob



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Big Brothers, Gen, Hypothermia, Little Sisters, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, blizzards are fun, just LISTEN TO SCOTT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 20:06:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2634557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelyob/pseuds/keelyob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which the youngest Tracy is sort of an idiot</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Really Shit Decision is Made

Nikole Tracy was not pleased. She turned her board to the side and slid to a stop, sending up a spray of snow. She moved her goggles from over her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. She really hated it when Scott was right. He had told her that the weather was going to be bad later in the day. They had been eating breakfast.

He had watched her spread the jelly on her toast and frowned.

“What are you planning on doing today?” he asked.

“Dunno.” She replied, mouth full of breakfast.

“Well, stay off the mountain. The weather isn’t going to be too good later.”

“How do you know?”  She asked, swallowing. He grinned and tapped his temple with one finger.

“Psychic,” He said, in way of an explanation. She rolled her eyes.

“Riiiight. What are you doing?”

“Going with Virg and John into town. I’m not sure if anyone else is coming.”

“I don’t have to come do I?” she asked, imploringly. He laughed.

“Nah, I’m sure someone will stay here with you,” She pursed her lips.

“Scotty, can’t I stay here by myself?”

“Kiddo, you’re only 14.”

“So? You’re only 22.” He snorted.

“No staying home alone until you’re at least 16. Or as tall as Virg.” She scowled, she had always been small for her age. She probably wouldn’t ever be tall as her middle brother.

“That is height discrimination Scott. Besides, we aren’t even at home.”

“Either way, you can’t stay at the cabin by yourself.” Alan, who came bounding into the room, interrupted the debate energetically.

“Aloha!” he grinned as he grabbed two bagels, three pieces of bacon, an orange, a glass of milk and two sausages. Then he sat down at the table between them and started in on his massive breakfast. Nikole looked down at her toast and orange juice then back to Alan’s plate with a laugh.

“Allie, I don’t even understand how you can even think about eating that much.” He looked at her, skeptically and poked her ribs lightly.

“Food is good, Nikki. You need to eat more of it. You’re too skinny; you’ll waste away just like Onaha says.” He immediately shoved a slice of orange into his mouth as if to prove his point.

“You coming to town Al?” Scott asked. Alan shrugged in response.

“Scotty, you aren’t really going to leave me here to deal with him are you?” Nikole asked. Alan mocked an offended look but it was marred slightly by his orange peel grin.

“Don’t worry Nik, I’ll be here.” Someone ruffled her hair from behind.

“You’re staying Gordy?” she asked. He hobbled around her chair and dropped in the seat next to her. He had sprained his ankle badly while snowboarding the day before and it wouldn’t be healed for another week. He nodded.

“Yup. Don’t feel like going all over town with those lunatics.” He gestured towards Alan, who was still showing his orange peel grin. Scott snorted a laugh and shook his head at his youngest brother before looking at Gordon seriously.

“How’s the ankle feeling this morning?” he asked with barely masked concern.

“Fine, fine. But it does give me another reason to stay her and babysit Nikki,” he waved away the concern. Nikki swatted at his head but he dodged it so she just glared halfheartedly. After they had finished eating John opened the door to the little cabin and the wind slammed it shut behind him after shoving him in, along with some snow.

“Johnny!” Gordon and Alan shouted together.

“Hey guys,” John grinned, shaking snow out of his platinum hair. He had been shoveling so they would be able to get the car out of the shed. “You ready to head out Scott?”

“Yes, but we can give Virgil a few more minutes to sleep,” John drank his coffee, then he and Scott dragged Virgil out of bed, literally. Alan, Gordon and Nikole watched as a disheveled and grumpy Virgil left the house with a hot mug of coffee and his older brothers. Then at the last minute Alan decided to head out with them and he rushed out of the cabin with a quick goodbye. Gordon and Nikole were left alone at the cabin. They looked at each other, knowingly.

“Movie?” they asked at once. Then suddenly they both jumped up, Gordon hobbled and Nikole ran for the cabinet under the television where they kept the DVD’s. She beat him there and he collapsed on the couch with a groan after she opened it. She looked back at the sound he made with a frown.

“You okay Gords?” she asked when she saw his pinched face. She left the DVD’s and bounded to land next to her brother on the couch. “Did you hurt it again?”

“I’m fine; I just landed on it funny. Tried too hard to beat you,” He laughed but she frowned again, knowing that he wouldn’t have admitted to pain unless it really hurt.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” she chewed her lower lip and watched the way he kept his ankle still on the floor.

“Aww, Nikki you know it’s not your fault, I was dumb to try and move that fast. Now pick a movie, it’s your turn now since you got there first,” She picked his favorite movie and he gave her a look.

“I like this movie too,” She said quickly at his look. He rolled his eyes. It was a lie. She fell asleep halfway through and ended up with her head first on his shoulder and then in his lap. When she woke up the movie had been over for an hour and his arm was draped over her back, he was asleep. She smiled, knowing he was only there because he hadn’t wanted to wake her when the movie ended.

She yawned and carefully extracted herself from under his arm so she could let him sleep. Then she looked out the kitchen window towards the mountain and decided Scott must have been mistaken. It was sunny and beautiful out, perfect for snowboarding.

She went to her room and pulled on some waterproof pants over her jeans then looked around the room for her sweatshirt. She didn’t see it so she slapped a layer of sun block onto her exposed arms and face. She threw on her thick hat complete with ear flaps, that John had given her last Christmas and collected her goggles and gloves then headed out with her board, past the still sleeping Gordon, to hike up the side of the mountain.

A few hours later she had made it quite a ways from the cabin and had gotten some pretty good boarding in. She had fallen enough that her jeans and “waterproof” pants were both soaked through and she was having a great time. But she was beginning to notice the wind picking up and the sky darkening. It was then that she realized Scott may have been right in his predictions after all. She reached in her pocket to check her cell for service, quickly realizing that she had left it in her room. But she had a walkie-talkie that her dad said they should keep on them whenever they went out so if the weather got really bad she could always call Gordon up on that.

 

 

Gordon woke to the cabin phone ringing and he yawned and stretched before getting up to get it.

“Hello?” he asked, voice laced with sleep.

“Hey Gordon,” Scott replied, his voice strained. “Listen, we had car troubles in town with this weather and all so we’ll probably be another few hours,” then he turned from the phone and Gordon fought to hold back laughter when he heard Alan whining in the background and Virgil threatening him while Scott tried to placate both of them

“Scott?”

“Right, sorry Gords. Are you and Nik alright up there?”

“One sec,” Gordon suddenly wondered where his sister was. He shouted her name. “Nikole! NIKOLE!” Then he turned back to the phone. “Wait a minute Scott,” He hobbled as quick as he could down the hall, checking for signs of his sister, but when he got to her room he noticed her snow hat and goggles were missing and that her phone was on her bed before hurrying back to the phone. He was breathless when he spoke with Scott again.

“Gordon what the hell?”

“Hey. I think she’s boarding,” Gordon said, slightly worried now. Scotts panic was rubbing off on him.

“What?” there was fear present now.

“She’s out boarding. Scott what’s wrong?”

“Gordon, look out the window,” He dropped the phone and went to the kitchen window. All he saw was white. He stumbled back to the phone, hanging off the hook and snatched it up.

“Scott, I’m going out there. Jesus, I have to do something. I didn’t know she was-“

“Gordon,” Scott stopped him, “Stay calm. Do not try to go out there. It won’t help her. I can get some guys up here to help us get out there with a Sno-Cat soon as I can and we will find her. She will be fine. And you can try to reach her on her cell-“

“she left it here,” Gordon interrupted.

“Damnit!” Scott nearly shouted. “Okay, try the radio. Gordon you do not under any circumstances try to find her yourself, it will be a lot easier to look for one person than two,”

“Oh God, Scott,”

“It’ll be fine. Just try to talk to her on the radio and call me as soon as you get word.”

“Okay,” Gordon hung up and crossed the room to the radio, immediately turning it on and calling for her.

“Tracy to Outradio1, Tracy to OR1, Do you copy? Over,”

“Nikole do you copy? It’s Gordon. Please Respond. Over,” He was panicking.

“OR1 to Tracy. I copy,” Nikole’s voice crackled through, sounding odd. Gordon let relief flood through him. “You okay Gords? I tried to reach you before. Over,”

“Yeah. I’m FAB Nik, the radio was off. Are you okay? Are you close to the cabin? Over,”

“FAB. I think I’m a few miles out but it’s hard to tell, and it’s been slow going with this storm. Over,”

“okay, which direction are you coming from?”

“uhhhhh… hard to describe. North. Past the creek?”

“I copy. Be careful kiddo. The boys are coming back with a Sno-Cat so try to beat them here. Over,”

“I’ll Try, Over and out Gordy,”

“Over and Out,” He called Scott.

“You talk to her?”

“Yes. She’s okay. A few miles out but she’s okay.” Scott cursed under his breath.

“There’s no way she’ll make it back before nightfall in this storm,” he said quietly. Gordon nodded, stomach churning with pent up nerves. Then he realized Scott couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, I know. Scott, what if I just-“

“No. Gords. I swear to God. You STAY in the cabin, if you go out there it will just make things worse,” Scott’s fear was seeping into his voice again and he had to swallow and take a deep breath to stay in control.

“I know. I’ll watch the radio. Just…” Gordon paused, “Hurry Scott,”

 

Nikole was really starting to regret going out when Scott said there would be a storm. Somehow he had actually predicted the weather correctly the one time she disobeyed him and now she was stuck 5 miles away from the cabin with nothing to get her back but her feet and a broken board. She had never damaged equipment before, she usually left that to the guys with their silly little stunts and trick moves but today, (of course) had to be the day she screwed up a jump and ended up with a ton of bruises, a few nasty cuts, torn pants and one broken board.

The only way she was getting home now was hiking through a snowstorm alone. Hooray.

She would never admit it, but it was kinda freaking her out. She kept checking her old school watch and the hour hand was slowly moving past the 7. It was about to start getting dark, and once the sun set she would really freeze her ass off. She was clutching the walkie for dear life; just hoping Gordie would try reaching her again.

She didn’t want to seem desperate or afraid and call him, but she sure would appreciate having someone to talk to. It was a long walk after all. She had stretched (or shrunk) the truth a bit when he asked how far away she was just because she didn’t want to get in trouble for hiking so far alone but now it was starting to worry her. The hour hand was getting ever closer to the 8 now and the sky was definitely getting dark. Though it was dark gray since all she could really see was snow. She decided to tell Gords.

“OR1 to Tracy? Ay Gords?”

“Tracy to OR1, I’m here Nik, everything okay? Over” he responded immediately.

“I’m doing fine Gordy, just tired and sore, it’s slow going in this storm and I think I’m probably about 3 miles away now,”

“Christ have you moved at all?” he responded, then remembering himself he added “over,”

“Yeah I’ve moved Gordon, I’m dragging this damn broken board along and my body hurts and I’m cold and it’s dark so I’m not gonna be moving at record breaking speeds here, over”

“broken board? Did you fall? Are you hurt kid?” he asked, frantically.

“err… yeah I did. I’m fine, I’ll tell you about it later Gords. Over,”

 “Fine. But hurry your ass back here Niks; and drop the board. You’re stressing me out, over”

“FAB, over”

She decided to leave the board in the snow, feeling only a little guilt about littering in the pristine environment. And clipped the walkie onto her pants to kept moving, but her next step fell through, it wasn’t the solid ground she was expecting, it was a deep snow bank and she let out a short cry as she ended up waist deep in freezing slush. It was definitely the creek, she felt the ice water seeping into her boots and through her pants within seconds and she gasped in shock. She must have gone too far off the trail. She sloshed through the creek, cautiously, hoping she would be able to find the trail on the other side. If she was right, and she did have three miles left, then she probably wouldn’t make it there before hypothermia set in, and the ice water that had seeped into her boots and her clothes was not going to help.

It was slow going through the water and by the time she made it through she couldn’t feel her feet or legs, they felt artificial – like odd foreign stilts that she had somehow attached. She had probably moved about a third of a mile when she called Gordon again.

“Gordy?” she asked. Her teeth were chattering too much to go through formal protocol with the walkies.

“Hey kid, you alright?” he asked, immediately.

“F-fine, gords. I’m r-r-really c-cold though,” she replied. “how f-far are the b-boys with th-that Sno-Cat?”

“They’re on the way, fast as they can, Nikki. You sound much colder than before, are you wearing gloves and your coat and everything?” he asked.

“uhh…”

“Nik. Seriously. Are you dressed for the weather?” he asked, sternly.

“No G-Gordy, not q-quite. I’m in my jeans, w-waterproof pants, t-shirt, m-my hat and gl-gloves,”

“What?! Are you kidding me, you went out with no coat AND no sweatshirt?” he shouted into the walkie.

“Yes but G-Gordon I was totally f-f-fine until…” she paused, suddenly realizing that telling him she fell into the creek was not exactly going to help her case.

“What happened?”

“N-nothing gords,”

“Nikki. Tell me. NOW.”

“I slipped int-to the c-creek s-so all my clothes are w-wet now,” she responded. She received a moment of radio silence in return and she winced at his disapproval.

“Jesus Nikole. Okay. Okay you’re fine.” Gordon scrubbed his hands over his face harshly and breathed deeply. “You just keep walking and do not take off any of your clothes. I’m going to contact you on the walkie every fifteen minutes and you need to answer back each time. Over.”

“Over,” she replied.

Fifteen minutes later, like clockwork, he called her. All he got in reply was static. He felt the panic rising again. She could be dead in a snowdrift and he wouldn’t even know.

He called again.

Static.


	2. In Which Everyone Totally Panics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nik is a big baby but she's hypothermic so we forgive her. it's fine that the rest of them are freaking out cause they aren't real IR yet okay??

He called again.

Static.

And again.

“Gordy?” she asked, breathily.

“Nikki, how are you feeling kid?”

“I’m fine Gordon. Don’t worry,”

“Are you keeping all your clothes on?” he asked.

“Uh-huh” she responded, airily. Gordon swallowed, hard.

“Hey, you’re still walking to the house, right?”

Static.

Static.

“Nikole?”

“Coming dad!” she replied, clear as a bell.

“Nikole can you focus for me?” he asked. “I need you to tell me what today is.”

Static.

“Nikole, what is today’s date?”

Static.

“Hey Scotty are you gonna come get me. It’s cold out here, please, I wanna go home,” she said wearily a minute later. Gordon swiped at his face with the back of his hand, feeling hot tears on his cheeks.

“He’s coming Nikki, he’s on his way,”

“Okay, I love you,” she replied.

“Love you too, little one, just keep walking, Over,”

 

 

“Scott, we have a problem,” Gordon said the second Scott answered his phone.

“What happened?” Scott could hear Gordon’s voice shaking.

“She’s hypothermic and still at least 2 miles out,” he replied.

“What??”

“She’s out there with no coat, and no sweatshirt,” Scott took a sharp breath. “And Scott, she fell in the creek,” Scott swore viciously under his breath and the other boys in the Sno Cat started, worriedly.

“How’s she sounding?”

“She told me after she fell in the creek that she was fine but she was shivering too much to even speak properly… And then I called her again 15 minutes later and she just wasn’t right. She had stopped shivering, first sign of hypothermia, and she was confused and delirious. First she called me ‘dad’, then I asked her what today was a few times and she didn’t answer…”

“Is that all she said?”

“No… after that she thought I was you,” Gordon said reluctantly. This was going to kill him.

“What did she say?”

“Something like, ‘Scotty please come get me, it’s cold and I want to go home’… and then she told me she loved me,” Scott closed his eyes, feeling his heart sink in his chest.

“We’re on our way Gords, fast as we can,” he hung up the phone.

All he could think of was the day of Virgil’s car accident, 3 years ago when the poor kid had broke his collarbone because somebody ran a red light and hit his car. He had been on his way to pick Nikole up from elementary school when it happened so Alan was already in the car, he had just got him from the middle school, and the other boys were at home.

Virgil and Alan were both transported to the hospital by ambulance and the other boys all met them there after Alan called them. Jeff had been on a business trip and he started home when he found out. But Scott could not stop thinking of the phone call he got that day. He remembered it word-for-word.

“Hey Scotty are you gonna come get me. It’s cold out here, please, I wanna go home,” she had said frantically, the moment he answered. Scott checked his watch immediately.

“Where are you, kiddo?” he asked. School had been over for two hours, anything could have happened.

“Outside school, it’s raining Scotty. The man stopped his car and he said I could use his phone,” she replied. He remembered the feeling of that moment, his blood turned to ice as he imagined his 11-year-old baby sister sitting on the sidewalk in front of the elementary school in the rain as a man drove up beside her. He had no way of guessing the mans intentions and he felt his hands start to shake before he took off running from the hallway outside his brothers hospital room to his car.

“I’m coming to get you right now Nikki, give the man his phone back and do not get in his car under any circumstances” he ordered, sternly.

“Okay bye Scotty,” she hung up.

He probably broke land-speed records driving to the elementary school that day. When he pulled up beside her the man was still there in his car and Nikki was still sitting on the curb, shivering and dripping with rainwater. Scott nodded sharply at the man and the guy nodded back and drove off. Clearly his intentions hadn’t been bad; otherwise his sister would be gone. Scott parked and jumped out of his car. Nikole’s lower lip started wobbling the moment she saw him. He ran over and picked her off the ground, hugging her tightly.

“Everybody forgetted me, Scotty,” she said tearfully into his shoulder.

“We could never forget you baby girl. I’m so sorry I was late.”

It looked like he was going to be late again. His little sister was walking through a snowstorm, confused and afraid, and they were still nearly a mile away from the cabin. He relayed the conversation to the other boys who were waiting, silently. Alan looked like he was going to cry, John looked as determined as ever to find her, and Virgil paled enough to blend in to the snow coating the window behind him.

“Wish she had stayed in the damn cabin like I told her to this morning,” Scott muttered to himself.

“She must’ve thought you were joking about the storm Scott, it looked clear as anything this morning,” John reasoned.

“We’re quite close, aren’t we?” asked Virgil.

“Probably a half mile out at this point” Alan answered, quietly. “We’ll make it in time right Scotty?” 

“Yes.” Scott asserted. “We’ll find her.” He pressed the gas pedal of the Sno-Cat just a little bit harder.

 

Nikole was cold.

She could feel it deep in the marrow of her bones and with every beat of her heart the ice pumped through her veins, every breath she took was an icicle to the throat, but deep in the reaches of her mind there was a far off warmth. She couldn't feel it so much as she could sense it, but it certainly was coming. She had always been a very determined young lady, not successful like her older brothers, but if anything could be said about Nikole Tracey it was that she had never once given up on something voluntarily. It wasn’t just something she didn’t do, it was something she didn’t seem to be able to comprehend. Giving up was so against the core of her being that even in her hypothermic state she never stopped struggling along, shuffling through the snowdrifts, her limp getting worse and her movements getting slower.

She didn’t even consider stopping for a rest or slowing down. But eventually, it was her body that failed her. She lost her balance in a large snowdrift and simply couldn’t get back up. Her legs had stopped hearing her commands and her arms weren’t strong enough to drag the rest of her through the snow even on the best of days. She lay there, green eyes wide and staring blankly into the white flurries of the blizzard that was now upon her.

She suddenly became aware of a distant crackling voice. Minutes past and her confusion increased; where was it coming from? Was someone here with her? Then her arm brushed the radio clipped to her pants. Her fingers were numb and weak so unclipping the walkie talkie from her pants seemed to take years. Finally she raised it to her face and listened. It was Gordon. She listened as he frantically called her name through the static.

“Please Nikki, baby. Just answer me”

“I need to know where you are, please Nik”

“Don’t give up out there, I need you to come home, okay?”

“Nikole please answer the radio”

“Tracy to OR1, Nikole answer the damn radio”

“Scotts gonna be pissy if you don’t tell me where to send him”

“Please, baby girl”

It took her a long while to gain the presence of mind to press the button and answer him. She even responded to him verbally a couple times before she thought to press. Then she pressed and forgot what she was going to say.

“Nik?? Was that you?? It’s Gordon, Please answer, over.” Gordon was tense and his hands were shaking as he pressed the button again. Begging every god he could think of to help his sister.

“Gorrrdy?” she breathed.

“Nikki, where are you?” he asked quickly.

“I don’t know w-where I a-am; what’s going on?” she spoke as if there wasn’t enough air to breathe; with short shallow breaths in between her words and her voice cracked. Gordon closed his eyes and continued to pray; she sounded like she was going to cry.

“It’s gonna be okay Nikole. The boys are on their way to you. Are you still walking towards the cabin?”

 “pleassse don’t be mad ,” she was crying and her words were slurred; her tears felt warm on her cheeks. “c-can’t move. Please. Tired”

“It’s okay Nikole, you’re alright. Soon you’ll be nice and warm at home and I’ll make you a hot cocoa, okay?” He wanted to scream in frustration.

“s’okay, I am warm. Love you”

“No, Nikole Tracy. I need you to stay awake and keep talking to me, okay?”

*Static*

*Static*

*Static*

“Fuck!” Gordon swept the old wildlife books off the table in one swoop of his arm and slammed the table with his fist before slumping onto his hands. “Fuck…”

The phone rang suddenly and he answered with a frantic, “Where are you?”

“Here in seconds. Open the door” Virgil hung up. Gordon limped quickly to the front door and swung it open to get a faceful of blizzard. His brothers stormed in seconds later. Ripping off their hoods. Scott looked wild and determined, his hair wind-tousled and his cheeks red. The rest looked similarly tousled but pale with fear.

“What do we know?” Scott asked Gordon; his blue eyes were piercing Gordons intensely.

“She should be between 1 and 1.5 miles from the cabin, she’s collapsed somewhere past the creek and is unable to move any further. Last contact was around 10 minutes ago so once you’ve got radios you’re welcome to try contacting her. She’s confused, immobile, feeling warm, no longer shivering and her speech is slurred. This likely puts her in stage 3-4 of hypothermia so we have an hour max to find her…” the rest of the statement was left unspoken but they all heard the “before it's too late” in Gordon’s voice. They stood still for a minute and then John started gathering radios for each of the boys and Scott commanded everyone to get their heavy boots and snow jackets on. The boys scattered and Gordon slumped back into his seat.

Scott put his hands on Gordon’s shoulders and leaned down to look into his eyes.

“We need you to manage us from here. I need you to plot 3 courses – one for me, one for John and one for Alan and Virgil. And then I need you to keep us on course based on landmarks and trail markers. You know the area and so do we so I know you can tell us where to go based on our map and our general idea of her most recent location,” Scott spoke like a commander and Gordon trusted in him completely. “Can you do that?”

“Absolutely,” Gordon nodded sharply.

“I know you can.” Scott clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed. “Don't worry fish; we’ll be quick,”

Two minutes later all the boys were suited up with the warmest clothes they owned and each of them carried an emergency thermal blanket and mini first aid kit in their backpacks as well as a clip-on radio. Alan complained briefly about not being able to go alone but Virgil silenced him with a stern look. Gordon had plotted three simple paths that were spread out enough to cover the area she could be in but still manageable for the boys in around a half-hour. And they set off.

 


End file.
